Renaissance 711m4b

Renaissance Era Renaissance is a period of European civilization right after the Middle Ages. There is a consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century.1 The word "Renaissance" is borrowed from the French language, where it means "re-birth". It was first used and defined2 by French historian Jules Michelet (1798–1874), in his 1855 work, Histoire de (History of ).3 Some have called into question whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for classical antiquity.4 This is caused by the statement that the entire Middle Ages were often referred to as the "Dark Ages". 5 Jules Michelet defined the 16th-century Renaissance in as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world.6 In the 15th century, the Renaissance spread rapidly from Florence, first to the rest of Italy, and soon to Europe. Italian Renaissance invented the machinery of modern diplomacy: permanent embassies with resident ambassadors in capitals where political relations and commercial ties needed continual monitoring.7 As a cultural movement, the Italian Renaissance affected only a small part of the population. Italy was the most urbanized region of Europe, but three quarters of the people were still rural peasants.8 For this section of the population, life remained essentially unchanged from the Middle Ages.9 Classic feudalism had never been prominent in Northern Italy, and most peasants worked on private farms or as sharecroppers. Some scholars see a trend towards refeudalization in the later Renaissance as the urban elites turned themselves 1 Burke, P. (1998). The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries. 2 Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1963). The Art of the Renaissance. London: Thames & Hudson

(World of Art). p. 9. ISBN 978-0-500-20008-7. 3 Michelet, Jules (1847). History of , trans. G. H. Smith. New York: D. Appleton. 4 Huizanga, Johan (1999, trans. 1924). The Waning of the Middle Ages. 5 Mommsen, Theodore (April 1942). Petrarch's Conception of the 'Dark Ages'. Speculum 17

(2): 226–242. 6 Brotton, Jerry (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar. Oxford University Press. p. 21–22. 7 Aboukhadijeh, Feross. Chapter 13: European Society in the Age of the Renaissance. 29

Dec. 2013. [https://www.apstudynotes.org/european-history/outlines/chapter-13-europeansociety-in-the-age/] Accessed on 5 October 2015. 8 Burke, Peter (1999). The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Princeton

University Press. p. 256.

into landed aristocrats.10 But in the cities, these were dominated by a commercial elite; as exclusive as the aristocracy of any kingdom from Medieval era. Below them there was a large class of artisans and guild who lived comfortable lives and had power in the republican governments. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe where artisans were firmly in the lower class. Although they were educated, this group did participate in the Renaissance culture.11 Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, an official in diplomatic and military affairs in the Florentine Republic, wrote a book about the governance in the Renaissance era entitled Il Principe. In this book, it is clear that Machiavelli did not agree with Plato and Aristotle. Machiavelli insisted that an imaginary ideal society is not a model by which a prince should orient himself. This categorization of regime types is also "un-Aristotelian" 12 and apparently simpler than the traditional one found for example in Aristotle's Politics, which divides regimes into those ruled by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or by the people, in a democracy.13 He also ignores the classical distinctions between the good and corrupt forms, for example between monarchy and tyranny. Machiavelli frequently uses the words "prince" and "tyrant" as synonyms, "regardless of whether he speaks of criminal or non-criminal tyrants".14 Machiavelli presented himself at various times as someone reminding Italians of the old virtues of the Romans and Greeks, and other times as someone promoting a completely new approach to politics.15 Besides Machiavelli, a philosopher in the Renaissance era who also contributed the idea about state was Thomas Morus or also known as Sir Thomas More. He was a chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532. 16 He wrote two controversial books entitled De optimo rei publicae deque nova insula Utopia. Most scholars see it as some kind of comment or criticism of contemporary European society, 9 Jensen, De Lamar (1992). Renaissance Europe. p. 105. 10 Burke, Peter (1999). The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Princeton

University Press. p. 246. 11 Jensen, De Lamar (1992). Renaissance Europe. p. 104. 12 Gilbert, Allan (1938). Machiavelli's Prince and Its Forerunners. Duke University Press.

p. 19. 13 De Alvarez, Leo Paul S (1999). The Machiavellian Enterprise; A Commentary on The

Prince. p. 9 14 Strauss, Leo (1958). Thoughts on Machiavelli. University of Chicago Press. p. 272. 15 Fischer, Markus (2000). Well-ordered License: On the Unity of Machiavelli's Thought.

Lexington Book.

for the evils of More's day are laid out in Book I and in many ways apparently solved in Book II.17 The politics of Utopia have been seen as influential to the ideas of Anabaptism and communism.18 Utopia described as the life of the society wants and is a criticism of the English government at the time. The absolute power of the king of the English government at that time that caused Thomas More to criticize it.

16 Linder, Douglas O. The Trial of Sir Thomas More: A Chronology at University Of

Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School Of Law. [http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/more/morechrono.html] Accessed on 6 October 2015. 17 Manuel and Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World. 18 AP European History. Religious Leader Networking Assignment.

[http://www.northernhighlands.org/cms/lib5/NJ01000179/Centricity/Domain/58/Religious %20Leaders_review2013b.pdf] Accessed on 6 October 2015.